Losing Winter

http://losingwinter.net

2018 - ongoing, site-specific, participatory, video, audio, augmented reality mobile app (free for iOS devices)

An Ode to Disappearing Winter, Roel Neuraij, Witte Rook publications, Breda, NL, 2024

Losing Winter is a site-specific, participatory artwork and archive of memories and emotions about winter, revealing personal and cultural ties to the season and reflecting upon what we are collectively losing due to climate change impacts on seasonal patterns. The project addresses environmental amnesia, wherein with each new generation the changed or degraded state of the environment is perceived as normal, by preserving personal memories about the season as it was in the past in a particular location. The project is activated through the participation of local communities, site-specific exhibitions, and virtually through a dedicated augmented reality mobile application. Losing Winter was first realized with the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, Romania in 2018 and has since been created in five other locations. Each activation of the project is unique and site-specific.

Exterior view of two mural prints, exhibition at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH, 2025; video, photographs, audio, artworks created by local high school students

Interior view of two mural prints, exhibition at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH, 2025; video, photographs, audio, artworks created by local high school students

Video sills; from activation for 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH, 2025

Detail of exhibition at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH, 2025; video, photographs, audio, artworks created by local high school students

Detail of installation at the StadsGalerij for Witte Rook in Breda, NL; projected video, photography, audio, fabric, steel, Foley sound. More detail about this realization.

Stills from videos, from activation for Witte Rook, Breda, NL, 2023-24, with community partners Park Zuiderhout, an elder adult living community, and Podium Bloos, a nomadic theatre. More detail about this realization.

Losing Winter - Witte Rook in Breda, NL

Activation of Losing Winter in Breda, NL hosted by Witte Rook

Stills from AR mobile app as viewed in exhibition at The Peale, Baltimore, MD, 2022.

Losing Winter (mobile app excerpt)

Activation for Oresman Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, MA, 2022, which fostered an exchange between people aged 60+ in Springfield, MA and Smith College theatre students.

Losing Winter (Oresman Gallery, Smith College)

Activation for Oresman Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, MA, 2022, which fostered an exchange between people aged 60+ in Springfield, MA and Smith College theatre students.

View of exhibition at Maryland Center for History and Culture, 2021-22. Winter memories from Marylanders were set within an exhibition of historical photographs and films showing Maryland in winter over a 100 year period.

Ice sculpture based on a memory contributed by a participant at opening reception at MCHC.

View of exhibition at VisArts, Rockville, MD, 2021, featuring recorded memories from elder adults from area that served as inspiration for children in fused glass and fabric collage workshops.

Melt

Still image from video, from realization of project for the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Romania, 2018.

MELT

Project postcard and logo. Text translation: “Attention, falling icicles!”

Losing Winter

Exhibition at National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania, 2018.

Losing Winter

Exhibition at National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania, 2018.

Losing Winter (Oresman Gallery, Smith College)